


Let us go to where the ocean hits the shore

by PrinceofBadassery



Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Canon Disabled Character, F/M, Pirate AU, amputee bucky, pirates without a ship, staged assault in the beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-23 19:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2553557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceofBadassery/pseuds/PrinceofBadassery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James and Natasha are pirates stranded on land after they were ship wrecked two years ago. They make do somehow, but it's not the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let us go to where the ocean hits the shore

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my attempt to write 50.000 words worth of fanfiction for NaNoWriMo.

The morning couldn’t have been nicer in Ardelle as life returned to its streets. Vendors were advertising their goods to the early risers, loudly and obnoxious, sometimes more intimidating than inviting. In the distance the ships in the port groaned against their restraint as workers unloading the cargo. In fact, Lord Penninghem having just arrived in town this very morning found nothing he could complain about, after two weeks cramped into a tiny room on a ship he found the sudden freedom of a town and solid ground under his feet to be the most peaceful time he had had in weeks. He breathed in a gulp of salty see air, when suddenly a high pitched scream interrupted his tranquility.

He turned around and found the source to be a woman a mere 20 feet away from him. From the state of her dress and her neatly pinned up hair he assumed she was a wealthy lady on a morning stroll. The cause of her distress was a man dressed in rags, obviously a beggar, who was uncomfortable close to her. He had a hand on her trim waist and his face pressed into the crook of her neck.

Lord Penninghem wasted no time and in a few large strides he was at her side, just as the man wrapped his arm further around her waist and pulled her small frame up against him.

“Come on, wealthy Lady like you got a few coins for a poor man like me, don’t cha?” The man trailed his mouth up the lady’s jaw, his face half obscured by dirty brown strands of hair.

Now the Lord could see that the beggar only had the one arm, but it hold tight as the Lady struggled. She pushed against his shoulders to get him away from herself, but her efforts proofed futile.

“Let me go! You dirty scoundrel!”

“You heard the madam!” Lord Penninghem said and grabbed the man’s arm around the wrist. The man let go at once and with maybe more force than necessary the Lord pushed the man back. The beggar stumbled and fell backwards, unable to bring his arm back in time to brace himself he landed hard on his back. An audible thud rang through the street as his head connected with the ground and the man groaned in pain.

By now they had acquired a small audience and Lord Penninghem, feeling rather proud of himself for his good deed, said for all to hear.

“Do not bother the lady again, you dirty pig, I will have you arrested.”

The beggar scrambled backwards having managed to get his bearings again and then rolled over to get to his feet. He scowled at Lord Penninghem through the strands of his hair before he walked away unsteadily, very obviously still disoriented.

Lord Penninghem watched him duck into an alley, posture the complete opposite of the Lord’s, who held his chin high and puffed out his chest.

“Oh Lord!” The lady next to him suddenly exclaimed and quite unexpectedly the Lord found himself with a woman pressed to his body, her hand resting on his chest and her green eyes staring up at him through thick lashes. A few strand of ruby hair had escaped their pins in the whole ordeal and they were now framing her petite face. She smiled at him, her hand tightening in his shirt.

“You saved me, how can I repay you?” She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes and the Lord could not resist resting a hand lightly on her slim shoulder.

“Milady, there is nothing to repay. I was simply doing my job as a gentleman. Scum like this… man.” He struggled with the word like it pained him to refer to the beggar as such.

“They must be taught their place.” He gently pushed her shoulder away from him and the woman took a step back and nodded.

“You are quite right Lord…”

“Lord Penninghem.”

“Lord Penninghem. I cannot thank you enough, if it weren’t for you, I do not know what I would have done. Thank you.” She bowed and flashed him a brilliant smile, then she coyly tugged her hair behind her ear with a slender hand and gathered her skirts with the other.

He watched her until the hems of her skirt disappeared in between the passersby. It occurred to him that he had neglected to ask for her name and he sighed. She really had been beautiful.

It was only after he had wandered another thirty minutes around the town that he noticed his bag of coins gone, that had been his starting capital for a new life in this town.

* * *

“First off. Ow! That really hurt!”

James didn’t even bother to look up when Natasha walked through the door and silently closed it behind her. He was currently holding down one end of the string at the collar of his shirt with his chin and folding a loop with the other end, before tying it up neatly. He had changed out of the dirty rag that had once been a shirt to put on a slightly cleaner one which had considerably less holes in it and two intact sleeves. One sleeve was currently tied in a knot just above where his left elbow should have been. The previous shirt had the left sleeve ripped off exposing his stump and scars to the world for everybody to see Natasha knew he was glad to be rid of it again.

Natasha walked over and sat down to his left on the wide bed. She cupped his jaw with her palm and pressed a light kiss to his cheek.

“That’s not exactly where I’m hurting, but I’ll take it.”

She chuckled and dropped a heavy bag of coins into his lap that she had seemingly produced out of no-where.

“Maybe this will ease your pain.”

James eyes widened and he let out a long appreciative whistle as he opened the bag and looked inside. They had truly hit the jackpot with this one.

“That does help, Nat, you really outdid yourself this time.”

“Wasn’t too hard, he only got here this morning, couldn’t already have spent it all.” She leaned back and swung her feet. James was still rummaging through the bag as Natasha freed her red hair from the various pins and clips she had forced it into only an hour earlier.

“I gotta get out of this dress. I can’t breathe.” She huffed once her locks bounced freely again. “You gonna help me?” She smirked at James and jumped of the bed.

James was still engrossed in the contents of the bag, having pulled out a few coins and counting them on his palm. Natasha rolled her eyes and started undoing the buttons on her bodice. The dress she could get off herself no problem, it really had only been a tease, but the corset was a whole different story. It only took her a few minutes to undo the buttons and ties that kept the dress closed and with a woosh it fell into a puddle on the floor, leaving her in a tight under bust corset, a blouse and a pair of men’s trousers that had previously been hidden by her skirts.

“James.” She said with force and his head jerked up.

“Yes?” He blinked at her and dropped the coins in his hand back into the bag.

“Help?” Natasha gestured to her corset before turning around, showing him the tightly pulled string crisscrossing her back. “You need to untie it. I can’t reach it myself.”

She heard him swallow behind her and then get up from the bed. There was the sharp intake of breath and the sound of a knife being pulled.

“James no.”

“James yes.” He retorted.

“No.” She looked over her shoulder and fixed him with a glare. “You can’t go around and destroy my clothes all the time. I still need this!”

“Why don’t you go to the maid downstairs?” His tone was light but it betrayed his unease.

“Because she just helped me dress an hour ago and it’ll look suspicious if I come back so early.”

He hung his head but put the knife away gesturing for her to turn around again before starting to tug at the strings.

“I only got five fingers, this is gonna take a while.” He mumbled, clearly already frustrated by the unyielding knot.

“Take your time. “ Natasha resisted the urge to turn around and take his face in her hand and smooth down the scowl she knew for a fact was present there. Instead she focused on holding still and not making it unnecessarily harder for him. Now and then he would tug on the string so hard the air was forced from her lungs and she was jerked backwards. He always mumbled an apology but she felt him getting more agitated as he struggled with the knot. The maid had obviously done her job maybe a little too well.

He cursed under his breath and after another painful jerk on the corset Natasha reached around with her left hand and gently laid it on his, stopping his movement in its tracks. She could feel the tension leave his body as he leaned forward and ever so gently laid his head on her shoulder.

“Focus.” She simply said and he nodded against her neck, face buried in her curls. Natasha felt his hot breath on her skin, before he lifted his head again, going back to work.

It took him another minute of concentrated work before the knot came loose and he tugged open the corset. Natasha slipped it easily over her head and discarded it on the bed, she fluffed up her blouse which had been squished under the corset and tugged a few errand strands behind her ears again.

James had walked over to the small window and was starring intensely out of the small gap between the curtains, his arm tightly wrapped around himself. Natasha’s shoulders dropped, he was in one of his moods that overtook him whenever simple tasks proved to be incredibly more difficult to do with one hand. He had never been able to shake them completely after losing his arm. They had been better after he had healed but the longer they have been stuck on land now the more often they overcame him again.

Natasha walked up behind him and snaked her hands under his arms, wrapping them around him from behind and holding onto his arm. She leaned into him, nuzzling the spot between his shoulder blades with her nose and she could almost see the pent up frustration seep out of him.

“We have to get back to sea.” She said, her voice no more than a whisper, but he heard her. James slowly turned around in her arms to look at her. He trailed his hand down her arm and intertwined their fingers, stroking her thumb with his.

“You think somebody’ll take us?”

She shrugged and he looked over her shoulder at the wall.

“A cripple and a woman. The captain’d be crazy to take us.” He huffed.

“You could always put a hook on it.” She poked his left arm for emphasis.

“Put a hook where my elbow ‘supposed to be. That’d make me blend right in.”

“You could poke somebody’s eye out?” She suggested and grinned up at him.

“I’d probably poke my own eye out!” He laughed and let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her a little closer. She didn’t resist and put her hand on his chest, leaning her head on the spot right over his heart to hear it steadily beat.

“If nobody’ll take us, we’ll just take one of their ships, make our own crew.” She said after a moment.

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

“Captain Romanoff, I’d like that."

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my native language, if you spot mistakes, please tell me.


End file.
